November 13, 2007

Interview: Alec Soth on "Dog Days Bogotá"

Alec Soth

In 2002, Alec Soth traveled with his wife to Bogotá, Colombia to adopt a baby girl. The baby's birth mother gave the new parents a book filled with letters, pictures and poems for their new daughter. 'I hope that the hardness of the world will not hurt your sensitivity,' she wrote. 'When I think about you I hope that your life is full of beautiful things.'

During the two months that the Colombian courts processed their adoption paperwork, Soth set about making his own book for his daughter. Soth recently completed this book, Dog Days Bogotá. On November 9th, an exhibition of this work will debut at Weinstein Gallery in Soth's hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Soth discusses Dog Days Bogotá with his intern, Carrie Thompson, a photography student at the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Photographs from the book "Dog Days Bogotá" © Alec Soth/Magnum Photos

Carrie Thompson: You made this book for your daughter, why did you decide to make it for the public?

Alec Soth: Wow, you're starting with the hardest question - you should be a journalist! Unfortunately I don't have a great answer. This work was produced five years ago. After Sleeping by the Mississippi was published, it didn't feel right to do this book. So I just kept it in my back pocket. After Niagara, I guess I was ready.

CT: Tell me about the dogs, how did they become so important?

AS: I was aware of the street kids in Bogotá. I mean, it is a hard thing to ignore, but I was especially attuned to it because of the adoption experience. But I was uncomfortable photographing these kids. So I photographed street-dogs instead. I guess they were a stand-in for the kids.

CT: So do the dogs have different types of personalities in your eyes - like young street children?

AS: Great question. In a way, this gets at why I was uncomfortable photographing the kids. I mean, I wasn't seeing them as individuals; I was generalizing them as a group. I don't like doing that. The dogs are all a little different, but I'm using them largely as an idea.

CT: It seems like you are searching for something in these images, was there something you were looking for?

AS: In the dog pictures or the book as a whole?

CT: All of the photos, the book.

AS: Yeah, I feel like I was looking for something...I'm just not sure what it was. But, of course, it all has to do with my daughter. Since we weren't given too much information about her background, the whole city became charged with her presence. I guess I was looking for signs of her and her background.

CT: Imagine your daughter looking at this book in five years, what do you want to see in her birthplace?

AS: I guess I want it to be a real place for her. I mean, we are already showing her the pictures (we only tore one page out of the book). We talk about Colombia a lot with her. As a five year old, it is just a mythical place. But over time, I want her to absorb it as a real place and as a real part of her history. I suspect that in five years she would be ready to take a trip there.

Photographs from the book "Dog Days Bogotá" © Alec Soth/Magnum Photos

CT: Your images have subdued color, is it really like that in Bogotá, or did you do it for another reason?

AS: A little of both. Here's the thing, I wasn't planning on doing a project. I was in Bogotá for only one reason, to adopt our baby girl. But we ended up staying for a long time and I got antsy to make some pictures. So I stated shooting with a medium format camera. I found a place near where we were staying to process and proof my film. They scratched the hell out of the negs, but I kept using them because I wanted to see the results quickly. Since the film was so hacked up, I had no choice but to scan. When I did these scans (about 4 years ago), I realized that I could play with the color in new ways. One of the things that sometimes frustrates me about color photography is hyper-saturation. With this project, I wanted something much more muted. Bogotá had a little bit of that quality. And memory is a bit like that too. This is a memory book. Just like family slides from decades past, this kind of fading feels right.

CT: Other then the color and the format, did you work in a similar fashion as Sleeping by the Mississippi and Niagara? Did you approach people in the same way?

AS: Pretty much, yeah. Even though I was using a small camera, I chose to mostly work with a tripod. I wanted that same kind of formality. But some of the pictures were hand-held...something I wish I could do with large format. Of course, my banter with the subjects was quite different. To my embarrassment, I don't speak Spanish.

CT: Did you have someone with you to translate?

AS: In the beginning, I had a driver. I needed him because I didn't know the neighborhoods. He didn't speak English, but was able to communicate what I was doing to folks. After I had a good sense of the neighborhoods, I would go out alone. It is amazing how much access you can get with body language and a couple of poorly pronounced sentences.

CT: Are there things you wanted to take pictures of that you did not, other then the children, because the images were intended for your daughter?

AS: No. I mean, while this book is for her, it was also about my impressions of the place. And I wanted to share my honest impressions, including my fears. There was one picture that I wasn't able to take that I'm sure I would have excluded from the book anyway. I walked into this building where there was a large group of young soldiers. They were part of a military band (my picture of one of the band members is included in the book). Well, these guys were in this big room gathered around a television. They were all quiet, holding their instruments, watching a porno movie. It was so surreal. I asked to take a picture but was understandably denied.

CT: That would have been an amazing, yes, and surreal.

AS: Yeah, but it would have been cut out. I made plenty of good images that just didn't feel right for the book. One thing that is different about this book from my others is that all of the pictures were made in one trip. I didn't have time to go back home, ponder, and return for more. I later considered going back, but it didn't feel right. This book was about a specific slice of time in our life, and I wouldn't have been energized in the same way if I returned.

CT: The dogs and the children make some of the images playful yet almost all of them have a sadness, is this what you saw in Bogotá?

AS: I'm not comfortable making any proclamations about Bogotá. I always say that Sleeping by the Mississippi isn't a document of the Mississippi River and Niagara isn't a document of Niagara Falls. In both cases, there are huge gaps because I'm exploring my own interests. I'm making my own Mississippi, my own Niagara. The same is true with Bogotá. My experience of the place was so profoundly shaped by adoption that I could never suggest I have a clear-eyed take on things.

CT: How did you come to the sequence of the images?

AS: It is pretty loose, but part of the structure is based on the idea of a pilgrimage. Many of the pictures in the book were made on Cerro de Monserrate, a mountain overlooking the city. On Sundays thousands of pilgrims climb the mountain, some on hands and knees. At the summit they give thanks to God for all of their blessings. I too wanted to give thanks. So with the sequence, I wanted to give the feeling of a pilgrimage. One of the first pictures in the book shows Monserrate (with a picture of Santa Claus in the foreground). At the end of the book I tried to communicate the feeling of an ascent and spiritual gratitude.

Links:
» Alec Soth's Website
» Album Dog Days Bogotá
» Book Dog Days Bogotá (Signed at the Magnum Store)
» Book More signed books by Alec Soth (From the Magnum Store)
» Alec Soth's Magnum Portfolio

Published on the Magnum Blog on November 13, 2007

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